Mr. Speaker, I am surprised my good friend across the way who is an accountant interprets the numbers in the way he does.
He knows that the projected surplus will be around $10 billion in the next fiscal year. If we take into consideration the contingency that the government is setting aside, if we take into consideration the prudence that it is setting aside and if we look at the history of the Minister of Finance, it might be even more than $10 billion. The Minister of Finance consistently underestimates the revenues of the Government of Canada, so there may be more than $10 billion.
The member across the way knows that. He is an accountant. He is a good member of the finance committee. Unfortunately he has become very, very conservative in terms of the tax cut agenda for wealthy people.
The GST cutback by one point will cost around $3 billion. That is about 30% of the surplus. That is a good amount to put in tax relief at the federal level at this time. Let us put most of the rest of the money into programs that are needed by the people of this country: health care, education, the farm crisis, the homeless situation and a children's agenda. That is what the people want.